Over 30 000kg collected in Fibre Circle’s Back2School competition
Three schools from Phoenix took top prizes in the Fibre Circle Back2School competition for collecting the largest amount of paper waste. A total of R70 000 towards any refurbishment of their school or funding of a school activity of their choosing is being awarded to the top performers.
The Back2School competition, which ran from January until March 2026, encouraged schools enrolled in the Zithande Mzansi programme to collect and recycle the previous year’s notebooks and textbooks rather than disposing it as waste.
Palmview Primary School claimed the top prize by collecting 2 389kg – and winning R30 000 in funding for their school. A R20 000 prize will be awarded to Olympia Primary, as the competition runner up for their collection of 2 202kg of paper waste. Olympia also won the Greenest School Award for their overall collection for the year. Third place is awarded to Northview Primary with a collection of 734kg.
“We are extremely proud of every school’s effort in the competition. It has been inspiring to witness the learners, and collection partners play their part toward a better South Africa,” shares Edith Leeuta, Fibre Circle CEO. “Their commitment is evidence of the powerful role young people can play toward a more sustainable future.”
Forty-one schools and a total of 34 635 students participated in the competition. Each school was tasked with establishing designated collection points for learners to deposit any used books, notes and other paper materials. Thereafter, schools were assigned to a collection partner to assist with weighing the total paper collected. Given the varying school sizes, Fibre Circle calculated collection rates per learner.
In addition to the top 3 prizes awarded, Fibre Circle recognised Phoenix for the Planet, a small business focused on recycling within its community, with the Top Collector Award. Notably, Phoenix for the Planet was the collection partner for the top three performing schools.
Throughout the school year, learners use substantial amounts of paper, much of which is incorrectly disposed of and ultimately ends up in landfills. The Back2School competition serves as Fibre Circle’s first step toward addressing this growing challenge.
“Waste reduction is a vital step toward protecting our environment and supporting the circular economy, and instilling this culture from a young age is paramount to meaningful change” Leeuta added.
About Fibre Circle
Fibre Circle is a government-recognised producer responsibility organisation. We manage extended producer responsibility programmes to keep paper and fibre-based packaging, which are renewable and recyclable products, out of South Africa’s landfills. This helps to create a clean and dignified living and working environments for all South Africans.
